Adam Radly
Founder
Founder of IIMAGINE.
More than $100M raised.
TEDx Talk about passion > 1 Million views. Founder of World Reconciliation Day with Nelson Mandela. Founder of One Direct Democracy.
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How To Sell Physical Products Online: Step By Step
If you want to sell physical products online, you need to match the right product with the right audience and then optimize conversion rates.
This means that you need to be prepared to do thorough research and a lot of testing.
This is how to do it.
1. SELL PHYSICAL PRODUCTS ONLINE: SELECT THE RIGHT PRODUCTS
If you are starting from scratch the first thing you need to do is decide what you will sell.
Will you resell someone else’s product, rebrand someone else’s products as your own or develop your own proprietary products?
See my video about ‘Sourcing Physical Products’ for more information about how to do this.
If you’re ready to go, make a list of the specific products that you ‘plan’ to offer and how much you ‘plan’ to charge for the products.
These are not final decisions. Just make a list based on your best judgment for now because this list will be adjusted (or replaced) based on the work you will do in the next steps.
2. SELL PHYSICAL PRODUCTS ONLINE: CUSTOMER RESEARCH
After deciding on the products that you plan to offer you need to make sure that your prospective customers really do want those products.
The question you’re trying to answer is this: is there an unsatisfied demand for the product that you want to offer? If the answer is yes, you’re good to go.
If the answer is no, then you need to spend time looking for an unsatisfied demand that you’re capable of addressing.
Go to social groups (like Facebook groups), Quora, and old-school industry forums to see what your prospective customers are talking about.
What are their pain points? How can you reduce or remove the pain? Is there a genuine demand for your products?
Based on this research, adjust your products and/or price accordingly.
Watch my video about Customer Research to get more detail about how to do this.
3. SELL PHYSICAL PRODUCTS ONLINE: COMPETITOR RESEARCH
The simplest way to do competitor research is to look at their products, website, social presence, and reviews.
How do your products compare to your competitors? What are they doing well? What are they not doing well?
Based on this research, adjust or refine your products and/or price accordingly.
Watch my video about Competitor Research to get more detail about how to do this.
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4. SELL PHYSICAL PRODUCTS ONLINE: UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION
Before finalizing the products you’re going to offer you need a “unique selling proposition” (USP).
The one question that every potential customer will ask is, why should I choose you?
You cannot reasonably expect to succeed if you don’t have a good answer to that question.
Your answer to this question could be the difference between success and failure.
Watch my video about Unique Selling Proposition to get more detail about how to do this.
5: SELL PHYSICAL PRODUCTS ONLINE: ECOMMERCE PLATFORM
You have three major options – Magento, Woocommerce, and Shopify.
The biggest players tend to use Magento, and the smallest use Shopify and Woocommerce somewhere in between.
As for the numbers, Woo-commerce is by far the most popular. All three platforms have their own pros and cons.
If you’re just getting started and you want to create a very simple standalone e-commerce store, I recommend Shopify.
If you’re planning to create a WordPress site and use a lot of plugins for your marketing then I recommend Woocommerce.
If you’re more advanced and prepared to spend some money on developers then I recommend Magento.
Keep in mind that this decision is not likely to be the reason you succeed or fail but it can be inconvenient to change down the road.
If you’re wondering, my preference is Woo-commerce because it’s free, open source, and has more integrations.
I prefer Woocommerce regardless of whether the business has revenue of $100 or $100 million.
6. SELL PHYSICAL PRODUCTS ONLINE: DELIVERING THE PRODUCT
When delivering your products, your primary goal should be to make the experience as painless as possible and exceed the expectations of your customer so that they can become repeat customers.
They can also provide good reviews and testimonials and that will help you to get new customers.
Customers want clear communication about – What’s included (and what isn’t) – All costs: price, tax, shipping – Timing: expected delivery time and tracking – Packaging: protects the product – Support: a clear and obvious way to get support
7. SELL PHYSICAL PRODUCTS ONLINE: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
After shipping the product you need to review everything in order to figure out what you can improve: – After the product has been delivered, send your customer a survey. – After completing the survey, ask your customer for a review or testimonial
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Use our “Impact Entrepreneurship” checklist to start your business and make the world better.